After reports of the trip from Bogota to Salento taking upwards of 10 hours due to re-routed traffic from the landslides I am anxious to get out of the city as early as possible to make it to Salento before nightfall. Unfortunately, the consensus amongst the five people I ask on how to exit the city was incorrect and the next few people I stopped to ask either didn't know of directed me to roads that were closed due to landslides. Two hours after departing the hostel I am finally on the correct road with a train of vehicles travelling at 15kph in front of me. Single-lane traffic and wide semi-trailers in both directions and constant blind corners makes passing to the left of vehicles rather dangerous. Good thing my panniers make my back end no wider than my handlebars and there is a rather wide shoulder which most vehicles stay out of since motorcyclists are constantly trying to squeeze past. Still not the safest way to pass traffic since there was a wall of vehicles on one side and a steep drop on the other but after breathing exhaust from poorly maintained vehicles, everything seems like a good idea. After three hours of passing vehicles the road finally opens up and I get half an hour of incredibly well maintained twisty roads with very few vehicles in sight, most of which being motorcycles that have passed the 20 semi-truck barrier that caused the delays. If I keep scraping my pegs on the ground I am going to have to buy new ones.
I quickly stop to get something to eat and purchase the best fruit salad I have ever had. Unfortunately, my camera is lost so I do not have images of the massive and delicious $1.50 meal. While I eat, it starts to rain heavily but that doesn't detract from the fun of the remaining ride. In total the trip to Salento only takes 6.5 hours. The power of lane-splitting!
The hostel Colombian Plantation House in Salento was full so they directed me to Las Palmas Hostel which was a terrible place to stay because of the constant damp, mold smell, tight quarters, poor facilities, and high cost. The reason I was directed there was because Las Palmas is affiliated by Colombian Plantation House which has given me a very poor opinion of Colombian Plantation House. After one night I moved to Tralala Hostel which was clean, beautiful, and owned by a Dutch motorcyclist.
No comments:
Post a Comment